Code Blue for homeless in Glens Falls

Site, which housed 3 men, is second opened recently

By Dennis Yusko

Updated 9:31 pm, Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Glens Falls

Three homeless men slept in a Code Blue location that opened Tuesday night in Glens Falls.

The Open Door, a soup kitchen at 47 Lawrence St., started a Code Blue emergency shelter for homeless people in its 300-square-foot dining room. The shelter, the only one for adults in the city, was expected to be open to anyone in need Wednesday night and possibly again Thursday night, depending on the weather, Kim Cook, Open Door president, said. The nonprofit Christian ministry will open its doors on nights when wind chill temperatures dip below 10 degrees or a foot or more of snow is expected.

"We have room for about eight," Cook said. She said it's hard to estimate the size of Glens Falls' homeless population.

"They are very good at being invisible," Cook said. "I think when people learn about us, we'll get a few more."

The Glens Falls address is the second Code Blue shelter in the area to open since last month, after Nancy Pitts, 54, a homeless woman in Saratoga Springs, died of exposure while spending a frigid night outside the Saratoga Senior Center. The Church of St. Peter's on Broadway in Saratoga Springs and Mayor Joanne Yepsen spearheaded an effort to open the church's parish center as a Code Blue site. The 15-cot shelter is staffed with volunteers. It's been full the last several nights, Yepsen said Tuesday.